Thankful Wednesday: Holidays, Double Dates, and Best Gals

Howdy Ho, neighbor.  I know, I know...it's supposed to be Wedding Wednesday.  But, it's my blog and I'll do what I want.

It's been a pretty full couple of weeks, and I've been a wee bit slack on the blog posts. But, fret not! I am back. (When I say fret I really just mean my Mom because I feel certain that she is the only one who always reads these things. Hi Mom!)

So here's what I'm thankful for this week...

1. Big family holidays

I absolutely love them. I can't help myself. My family is fantastic and I can't help but enjoy spending time with them. So here's what we did...

We went to an Easter Egg Hunt where Madison apparently wanted to show her belly to myself and my sister-in-law Kristen.

Norah was pooped.

Sawyer was a good boy.

And Norah met her cousin, Rodgers (*yes after Aaron Rodgers)

Note: The Amell sisters racked UP at the Easter Egg hunt.  Just know that we are not to be messed with.  We were raised to be competitive, and we win at all costs (including running past children).

We even made cupcakes for Heather's birthday.  Madison was a huge help, and she put 15 candles on one cupcake for Heather.

Uncle D & Madison played chalk in the garage thanks to the rain.

Some centerpieces

Delicious ham

Popsicle cutting delicious ham

Pinterest-worthy eggs made by my sister

Pinterest-inspired centerpieces 

A little mantle action

Someone discovered mud.

Us & my In-Laws

Madison was grumpy, so we went with the emotion.

Goofy picture (typical)

These two supervised the egg hunt.

THE CUTEST VIDEO EVER MADE

Madison, our two year old niece, is officially in her "I will copy whatever you do" stage.  Here's a little taste of what was going down in my parents' garage on Easter Sunday.  Too cute for words.  The "hi-ya" is the best.

Overall it was such a fantastic Easter!

2. Having young couples to hang out with

We are ridiculously lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful people. We've been on so many double dates recently, and frankly I love it.

Most of them stemming from this group (our epically awesome kickball team that ended their season on a two game winning streak...this week we went ultra-American...hence the jorts and bandanas...please try to ignore that I look like Willie from Duck Dynasty):

Last week we went on a Tuesday night date to our favorite diner, Early Bird Diner, with Kayla (who is practically my little sister) and David (The Rip).  Then, Friday we went to Dana, Lauren, and Penny's house for baked ziti and to play quite possibly the best game ever made (more about that on Friday).

We just feel really happy to have young, fun couples to be around!

3. Best girlfriends

I was recently talking to a good friend about how lucky we are to have found our friends in high school. It's rare that people keep in touch after school, but these happen to be my core group of friends at the age of 26. In fact, I met most of my favorite people in elementary and middle school. I just happened to find quality people pre-puberty. Don't get me wrong...I adore my college and law school friends, but I feel pretty lucky that over 100 of our wedding guests were high school friends and their families.

So let's get to it...I feel so incredibly blessed to have these four in my life.

These girls are the most loving, beautiful, and supportive friends a girl could ask for. I couldn't even begin to explain how amazing each one is without writing a book here. Just know that these are strong women who I am lucky to have by my side every step of the way.

Kristin & Justin's Wedding (Jackie, Stephanie, Ashley, Mwah, Kristin)

This Christmas

Our Wedding

AND THIS WEEK three of them will be in town. To say I'm ecstatic is an understatement. Can't wait!

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Stay thankful!

Xoxo,
Kel

Wedding Wednesday: Paper

Let's talk paper. No, no....not this kind of paper.

 

I'm talking about one of the biggest decisions you have to make for your big day.  THE paper.  From the Save the Date to the invitations to the response cards to the rehearsal dinner invites...there are seriously SO many options.  I do not know how anyone ever decides.  Here's what we went with....

1.  Save the Dates

We found some inspiration where a couple used translucent envelopes for their Save the Dates.  We thought that it was SO cool, and couldn't wait to figure out how we could do it.  After we had our amazing engagement photos taken by Dreampop Media we found the perfect picture to use.  Here's how they turned out...

The original picture was of the two of us on two separate benches looking at eachother.  Thanks to my gal pal (since I was 2 years old, y'all) we came up with these beautiful Save the Dates.  She's seriously talented, and we were so thankful to have her do this for us.

Then we just slipped them in the translucent envelopes, put mailing labels on them, and voila!  Perfection.

2.  Rehearsal Dinner Invites

On these invites I went simple.  I bought a really awesome Groupon for Vista Print months prior.  So, for $17 we got these sweet invites.  Their website is incredibly user friendly, but can create really expensive projects.  I highly suggest being on the look out for deals for this website.

3.  Wedding Invitations

We knew we wanted something different, and this time Andrea came through for us again.  She designed these beautiful invites to be printed on some pre-bought (on sale!) Target invite kits.  We were in love because they so perfectly fit our personalities.  We're not all about the traditional, fancy fuss.  We're a fun loving, laid back couple who obviously really likes different typography.  430 guests' envelopes hand addressed and stuffed.  Yeah, not the most exciting 11 hours of my life.

*Disclaimer:  these are sweet iPhone photos.

A.  The Invite

We loved that this incorporated our website!  (hello, online generation)

B.  The Particulars

I highly suggest this card to be included.  We just printed it on yellow heavy duty cardstock and they turned out beautifully.

C.  The Response Card

Yes, we stole the saying from Pinterest.  But aren't they precious?  We received some awesome responses.  People wrote in their +1 as different alcohols (i.e. Darryl LaPlante and Jack Daniels wouldn't miss it for the world).  We also had one person give themselves +25 as a joke because they knew how stressed we were about our high guest count (we didn't get very many nos...). But, reading everyone's responses was so fun, and we made sure to keep them all.  I'm sure one day we'll do something cool with them.

3.  Ceremony Programs

I'm probably biased, but I really loved how these turned out.  I'm biased because...well....I designed them so of course I love them.  When they were printed they were on a little heavier stock than we had originally planned, but c'est la vie!

COVER

TECHNOLOGY PAGE SHOWING OUR WEBSITE, IPHONE APP, AND OFFICIAL HASHTAG #KellyGotLaPlanted

MAP - SO ESSENTIAL!

 You can't get a good feel for how great these looked in person, but trust me they were pretttttty snazzy.

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The last thing I want to say is that you should really try to stay within your budget on these.  Be resourceful and be willing to compromise.  This is an area where you can easily go out of your budget because printing and designing can be so expensive.  Just remember - if you think someone will be upset unless you give them something like this....

We are not the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and it is not that serious.

So that's it.  The Paper.  Enjoy!

Thankful Tuesday: Easter eggs, Moms, and Kickball

It's Tuesday.  I'm tired.  I'm not proud, but yes two full days in to the work week and I want to go to bed at 7:00.  So let's make this short and sweet....

Here's what I'm thankful for this week:

1.  EASTER WEEKEND

I am so, so happy that we have a family holiday coming up.  One that celebrates what the Lord has given us, and one where I can be surrounded by the ones I love.  I literally am working for the weekend because I can't wait until my sister's little family gets here on Saturday.  Bring these little guys to me NOW!

Madison one year ago.

Austin. Madison. Korben.

My entire Fam Bam

2.  MOMMY DEAREST

My Mom has been keeping me sane for so long.  She listens to me complain about EVERYTHING, and is my life saver on the regular.  This week she's my hero because sweet Norah decided to potty on our bed this morning.  She was willing to drive to Darryl's work to pick up our comforter and wash it for us today.  Thus, saving us money and time.  She is THE BOMB.  For realz.  (Yeah...when was the last time you heard that one)

Old school picture on our absolutely killer 80s couch. Gross. Come on Mom.

Also, sorry I put so much leg out there on the internet.  But, you're gorgeous!

3.  KICKBALL TEAM

Darryl and I play kickball every Tuesday with a group of seriously fun individuals.  This week we have a by-week, so I thought I would take the time out to be thankful for them.  We play in a Beer League for the Charleston Sports and Social Club.  We're actually not that bad, but we are newbies so we have only won a couple of games so far (in two seasons).  The team is comprised or high school and college friends, and they are seriously all wonderful.  We normally wouldn't get the opportunity to hang out with all of these folks during the week, so we feel really lucky to be able to have this time with them.  Love y'all!

Stars & Bars

Stay thankful!

xoxo,

Kel

Make My Monday: Lazy(ish) Weekend

Most of our weekend was spent catching up on sleep, getting our place back in order, and enjoying our little family.  HOWEVER, we would not be the LaPlantes if we didn't still have a lot going on during the weekend.

Here was the highlight:

2013 Water Missions International 

Walk for Water

This was our third year participating in the walk.  This charity is incredibly important to Darryl, as he has spent the last three years fundraising for their cause through SC Federal Credit Union.  Water Missions works to provide clean and safe drinking water to countries all over the world.  They currently have systems in 49 countries and 5 continents, and they have brought clean water to over 2 million people.  Did I mention that the non-profit is based on Christian values and was started in Charleston?  Yeah, we love it.  Side note:  Darryl went to Africa a year and a half ago with Water Missions.

Back to the walk...this is the 7th Annual Walk.  Participants carry a bucket 1.5 miles to the Battery, fill their buckets with water, and then carry it back 1.5 miles to Cannon Park.  We do this to symbolize the distance many people have to travel every day just to receive a bucket of water (and it's not always the cleanest).  Bottom line:  it's really cool.

Here's a picture of our family participating last year:

This year Darryl and Young Free SC were in charge of the photobooth.  So here's our family shots!

Pharaoh, Sawyer, Queenie, Norah

We knew Norah was a little young for this long of a walk, so we expected to carry her for a bit.  HOWEVER, we did not know that Princess Norah would only take three steps.  So...

She ended up in the bucket.

And slept.  How rude right?

She was a Walk for Water celebrity.  People were coming up to us and taking pictures of her and asking us to take her to show their families.  You seriously wouldn't have believed it.  People love goldendoodles, y'all.  It's a basic fact of life.

Overall, we had a really wonderful time walking.  My parents, Darryl's twin brother, and his best friend Cameron also joined us.  Such a great cause, and who wouldn't love cruising down to the Battery?  

ps. You can always spot me in photos because I was wearing a NEON pink sweatshirt.  

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ALSO, Norah figured out how to do this:

AND she's seriously the cutest.

But, will never be as cool as my Sawyer.  He's the coolest. For reals.

A friend from college (who has an awesome blog that you can check out here) recently told me that we have storybook-esque dogs.  I love that!  And I seriously think someone should get on writing about their adventures ASAP.

Hope y'all had a great weekend!

xoxo,

Kel